Erik Voorhees launches ShapeShift, first iOS crypto converter

Erik Voorhees and his team just launched a new tool that might change the cryptocurrency game. Or, at least, make it a lot easier to play. The Bitcoin entrepreneur announced the release of the first iOS-friendly cryptocurrency trading app.

The application, developed by Voorhees’ startup ShapeShift, is the first iOS cryptocurrency converter currently available in the App Store. It allows the users to exchange BTC and 34 other digital currencies with a simple tap, eliminating the need to create an account on a Bitcoin exchange.

The Bitcoin entrepreneur announced the good news on Reddit and the reaction was amazing. Here are some of the replies from excited Bitcoiners:-

“Great Breadwallet integration!”Logical007

“Love Shapeshift! :)”connect_fist

“This is amazing. Thank you Shapeshift team! You provide a service which I find invaluable. I’m not a crypto trader, so Shapeshift allows me to convert BTC into any other currency without having to sign up with exchanges. I just use Circle to get cash/BTC and then use Shapeshift for all my other needs.”f1shbone

“Very cool. Well done to Erik and the team.”Essexal

“Great work! Can’t wait for Android, yo.” nigger_loaf

Following the launching of the iOS app, Voorhees received numerous requests regarding the development of the ShapeShift Android application. According to the fintech visionary, the Android version is under development and coming soon, a promise backed by ShapeShift. The company’s Reddit user left a short message on the thread created by Vorhees: “Woo hoo! We are so excited to have this released… Next up, Android,” reads the message.

The entrepreneur and his seven-person team decided to start with iOS because they wanted to tackle the hardest task first. “We wanted to do the Apple one first because Apple makes it tricky to get Bitcoin apps approved. It was actually an extremely fluid process. I guess the ghost of Steve Jobs was looking out for us,” Voorhees told Forbes.com.

But what is so special about ShapeShift’s software? The application doesn’t store any cryptocurrency or user information, which means the users never take risks. “Any data that is stored, is stored locally on the device with this app, so unless you hand it over to Apple directly they don’t have any access to any of the data,” the company explained on Reddit, while Voorhees compared the software to “a vending machine.”

“Basically its claim to fame is that there’s no account or sign up at all. It’s sort of like a vending machine where you just visit the website, send one kind of digital currency, and we send you a different kind of digital currency,” Voorhees said.

“We don’t ever have to hold customer money like a normal exchange. It’s a definite advance for consumer protection because there’s no risk of hacking or of the operators running away with money.”

With the launching of this iOS app, the number of transactions managed by ShapeShift is likely to increase. Voorhees revealed that the site had around 13,000 orders in May, but that number has been growing 20% per month.

The users pay a small fee for each transaction. According to the Bitcoin entrepreneur, “the margins are really small,” which means the company needs to attract a lot more users to make sure its software has the necessary resources to operate. “Ultimately if we take any small piece of the global exchange market that will be plenty big for us to make money on.”